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THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 





















































































WILL YOU HAVE ALICE-BLUE SUITS TRIMMED WITH WHITE BRAID? 








THE 

HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


BY 


GERTRUDE CHANDLER WARNER 

h 

With illustrations arranged by the author 
and photographed by 

JOHN A. CARPENTER WARNER 



THE PILGRIM PRESS 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 


t 



Copyright 1916 

By GERTRUDE C. WARNER 



SEP- 14 1916 


THE PILGRIM PRESS 
BOSTON 


©CI.A437651 


\ 


THIS LITTLE BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED 
TO MY GRANDFATHER 

lolju A. (Earjurntfr 

WHO WAS MY “BEST” PLAYMATE 







4 




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CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I The New House 3 

II At the Seashore 24 

III Mr. Delight’s Surprise 45 

IV The Picnic 64 

V The Christmas Tree 83 


vii 




PERSONS IN THE BOOK 



Betsey, a real little girl, who 
takes the parts of 

Madame Bettina, the French 
dressmaker 

Mr. Betts, the carpenter, and 

Dr. Betson, the family phy- 
sician 


William Delight, a bisque doll, 
just as long as Betsey’s hand 



Edith Delight, his wife, a 
five-inch bisque doll 


pc; 


PERSONS IN THE BOOK 

( Continued ) 


Dinah McGinty, the colored 
cook, a rag doll 




Dumpling Delight, the china dog 


Prudence Darling, Edith Delight’s 
married sister 




John Darling, Prudence’s husband 


Mr. and Mrs. Avery .... Betsey’s Father and Mother 

Tom Avery ’ Betsey’s Brother 

Margaret Avery Betsey’s Cousin 

Dr. Lawrence Betsey’s Doctor 

Norah Betsey’s Mother’s Cook 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

“Will You Have Alice-Blue Suits?” . Frontispiece 
Persons in the Book 

“ Will You Have a Breaded Chop, My Dear? ” 4 / 

“ That is Quite Satisfactory to Me ”... 14 

She Always Stood Mr. Delight Up in His 

Shirt-Sleeves 22 J 

Soon Mr. Delight Came Striding Back . . 34 

“ Remember de Fish, Mr. John ” , . . . 38 

“Don’t Stir Up the Water so Much Down 

There” 42 

So Mrs. Delight Went Down in Great 

Astonishment 62 

“ He Sure Do Look Mighty Stylish A-Driving 

Dat Kerridge”. 68 

“Take Up a Sandwich, Mrs. D. and Look 

Pleasant!” 76 

He Left a Print of Each Tiny Footstep . . 90 

“ Dinner Am Served, Sah ” 96 

ix 


















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PREFACE 


Betsey was a curly-headed little girl, 
nine years old, who played with her 
dolls in the most interesting way you 
ever saw. Little Mrs. Delight, with 
her soft brown hair and beautiful 
brown eyes, was Betsey’s very dearest 
doll, and she played most of the time 
with her, and her charming little hus- 
band, Mr. Delight. But Betsey’s sis- 
ter Anne, who was away at school 
and who was much too old to play 
with dolls any more, had given Mr. 
and Mrs. Darling to Betsey, for it did 
seem too bad to keep them packed 
away in their dark, stuffy box. 

Now, Betsey didn’t call herself 

xi 


PREFACE 


the dolls’ mother, for they were all 
grown up, and much older than she was 
already. And they seemed to need a 
new chair or a new bed so very often, 
that a carpenter was necessary most of 
the time. So whenever Mr. Delight 
wished to order new furniture, Betsey 
called herself Mr. Betts, and talked 
exactly like a carpenter. When Mrs. 
Delight needed new dresses or new 
curtains, Betsey called herself Madame 
Bettina, and talked as nearly as she 
could like Mother’s French dress- 
maker. And when any of the dolls 
were sick, Betsey at once took the 
part of old Dr. Betson, and talked 
gruffly with them about tonics and 
pills. 

She talked for each of the dolls, too, 
and if you had listened in the next 


PREFACE 


room, you would have said that at 
least three or four people were talking. 

Betsey really was such a very skil- 
ful little carpenter and seamstress, that 
you will find only five pieces of furni- 
ture in the pictures that she did not 
make all alone by herself. See if you 
can find the five things. She even 
made Dinah, the colored cook. 

Betsey always liked School-time, 
and Bed-time. And she was a very 
good little girl about Errand-time 
and Dusting-time,— considering every- 
thing. But, do you know, I really 
think that most of her best lessons 
in patience and neatness were learned 
in Play-time ! 


xiii 




THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 





Chapter I 

THE NEW HOUSE 

M OTHER paused on her way 
past the playroom door, and 
listened. She knew Betsey did not 
have company, and yet there was a 
sound of three voices, — first a pleas- 
ant deep, bass voice, and then a 
pleasant silvery little voice, and then 
a pleasant low bark. Mother pushed 
open the door very softly and looked in. 

There lay Betsey on the great fur 
rug, with her curly head propped up 
on her hand. Before her stood the 
low, broad Morris chair, divided into 
two rooms. Mother knew it must be 
a bedroom at the back, on account of 
3 


4 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


the funny bed made of a box-cover, 
and covered with a gay patchwork 
quilt, Betsey’s very first piece of sew- 
ing. And nobody could possibly mis- 
take the dining-room in front, with its 
large red pasteboard table, and little 
Mrs. Delight at one end, and her cute 
little husband at the other. Black 
Dinah stood by the table, smiling as 
usual, ready to serve a large platter of 
salad, and Dumpling Delight barked 
gruffly once in a while, because there 
were so many tantalizing smells in the 
air. 

“ Will you have a breaded chop, my 
dear?” asked Mr. Delight. 

“Yes, thank you, William. Will you 
have some of the creamed oysters?” 

“And some of dis yeah lobster 
salad?” inquired Dinah. 



0 


WILL YOU HAVE A BREADED CHOP, MY DEAR ? 






























THE NEW HOUSE 5 

(“ Mercy,” thought Mother, behind 
the door, “ what a dinner ! ”) 

“ I’ll tell you what / wish,” said Mr. 
Delight with a deep cough, “I wish 
we could invite your sister Prudence 
and her husband to spend a week 
with us.” 

“ Where in name hebben would you 
put comp’ny, now, Massa Willyum? 
I ask you dat,” demanded Dinah. 

“Yes, William!” echoed Mrs. De- 
light. ‘‘This house is certainly a tight 
fit for three, and with two extra ones 1 ” 

“I wish I could afford a larger 
house,” said Mr. Delight in a worried 
tone. 

“My dear husband!” exclaimed 
Mrs. Delight. Betsey had to sit up 
straight on the rug and take Mrs. 
Delight around the table to kiss her 


6 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


husband affectionately. “I didn’t mean 
a word I said, William ; I really 
didn’t.” 

“There, there, my dear, I know 
you didn’t,” replied Mr. Delight 
soothingly. 

But Mother suspected that Mr. De- 
light was worried just the same, so she 
softly pulled the door together and 
tiptoed away to the telephone. She 
smiled to herself as she called up the 
carpenter-shop. 

“ I want you to make my daughter 
Betsey a doll-house, Mr. Jones,” she 
said. “Just like the one you made for 
your little girl,— that had four rooms 
and six windows, and a big door be- 
r tween the rooms. And can you get it 
done for Betsey’s birthday? In four 
days?” 


THE NEW HOUSE 


7 


“ I will get it done, paint and all,” 
promised Mr. Jones. And he did. 

On the morning of her ninth birth- 
day, Betsey came smiling to breakfast, 
expecting to see a pile of dainty white 
parcels at her plate. 

“ Your birthday present is up in the 
playroom, Betsey dear,” said Mother 
with a kiss. 

“ I’m afraid she won’t like it,” said 
Father. 

Now, whenever Father said that,— 
“I’m afraid she won’t like it,”— Bet- 
sey’s present was sure to be very large 
and wonderful. Once it had been her 
shiny bicycle, once her new blue play- 
room, and once her darling black pony. 
So Betsey finished her breakfast in 
great excitement, hurried upstairs to 
the playroom and pushed open the 


8 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


door. And there it stood in the center 
of the room,— the dear little house, 
painted snow-white inside and pale 
green outside,— with four rooms and 
six windows and tiny window-sashes, 
and the cunningest threshold 1 

Betsey rushed over to the dainty little 
cottage, put her head in the little 
dining-room and looked through the 
double doors into the drawing-room. 
“ Just to see how it would seem to live 
here,” she thought. And then her 
eyes fell on a square white card dan- 
gling from one of the little window- 
sashes. 

“THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT” 
said the card. “To Betsey, from Father 
and Mother.” 

“ I’ll say thank you before I begin 
to play,” decided Betsey, tossing back 


THE NEW HOUSE 9 

her curls and clattering down stairs at 
a great rate. 

“ Here’s that child ! ” exclaimed 
Father. “ I was afraid she wouldn’t 
like it 1 ” 

“O but she does! ” shouted Betsey, 
whirling around in the middle of the 
room. “ Mr. Delight has wanted to 
move for the longest while ! ” 

“ What do you say, Mother,” said 
Father with a twinkle, “ if we excuse 
Betsey today from doing any hard 
work?” 

“ Betsey can simply make her bed,” 
agreed Mother. 

So Betsey whisked the white covers 
over her little brass bed as smoothly as 
she could (with a perfectly new doll- 
house waiting), and hurried back to the 
House of Delight. 


10 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


Little Mr. Delight was sitting in his 
law office behind the radiator. Betsey 
picked him up, put on his gray derby 
hat, and walked him rapidly across the 
room to the Morris chair. 

“ Edith, O Edith ! ” he cried excit- 
edly. “ My salary has been raised to 
a million dollars a year ! Now we can 
move into a new house I ” 

“ How perfectly lovely ! ” cried Mrs. 
Delight. “ Can’t we buy one di- 
rectly ? ” 

“We certainly can, my dear,” re- 
plied Mr. Delight. “We will go down 
right away and see Mr. Betts, the car- 
penter, and see what houses he has on 
hand for sale.” 

Betsey slipped off the excited little 
gentleman’s business coat and put on 
his black one with the long tails, thrust 


THE NEW HOUSE 


11 


his cane under his arm, and propped 
him up against the chair-back to wait 
for Mrs. Delight, who was much slower 
in dressing. Betsey selected a white 
silk blouse and tailored skirt for Mrs. 
Delight, and opened her gay Japanese 
parasol. Then, while the happy dolls 
were taking the trolley ride to Mr. 
Betts’ carpenter-shop— (really standing 
stiffly all the time against the chair- 
back) — Betsey hustled the untidy shop 
into order. Then she drew the table 
over to the window, settled her fat tube 
of paste, her bottle of glue, her scissors 
and scraps of satin on it, and sat down 
before it, very importantly, as Mr. 
Betts, the carpenter. And what a smil- 
ing carpenter she was ! 

“ Good day, Mr. Betts,” said Mr. 
Delight (quite out of breath with the 


12 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


stairs), “we want to buy a new 
house.” 

“What kind of a house?” asked 
Mr. Betts thoughtfully, setting his little 
customers up against a pile of books. 

“A moderately large house, Mr. 
Betts,” replied Mr. Delight, “that is 
well-built,— for myself, my wife, and a 
colored cook.” 

“Aha ! ” exclaimed Mr. Betts. “ I 
have the very house ! ” 

“ Shall we take a look at it, my dear? ” 
said Mr. Delight, offering his arm to 
his wife. And presently they stood in 
Mr. Betts’ brand new house, that was 
painted snow-white inside and pale 
green outside, that was well-built and 
just right for three people. 

“O what a lovely house ! ” exclaimed 
Mrs. Delight. 


THE NEW HOUSE 13 

“ How much is it ? ” asked Mr. 
Delight, taking out his check-book. 

“ It is $15,000, but it is very well- 
built and — ” 

“ That is quite satisfactory to me, 
Mr. Betts,” said Mr. Delight, calmly 
writing his check for $15,000. 

‘‘And you can supply us with furni- 
ture, I suppose ? ” asked Mr. Delight, 
passing the check to the obliging 
carpenter. 

“ Everything from a rocking-chair to 
a telephone,” said Mr. Betts happily. 

“ Betsey ! ” called Mother’s voice. 

“ Here is a present from Aunty, for 
your birthday,” said Mother when 
Betsey opened the door. 

Betsey sat right down on the stairs, 
smoothed out the long, pink ribbon 
carefully (for she was sure to need it 


14 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


when she became Madame Bettina, the 
French dressmaker), and shook out 
her present. It was a tiny sideboard 
with shelves for Mrs. Delight's china, 
with fascinating doors that opened and 
shut, each set with a little silver-colored 
knob. 

“O for my new house!” cried 
Betsey. “ Isn’t it the luckiest thing, 
Mother, for I’m afraid Mr. Betts doesn’t 
keep sideboards ! ” 

Mother laughed and waved her hand 
at the happy little figure. 

“ Now, as long as the house is de- 
cided upon,” said Mr. Betts cheerfully, 
taking one of the little millionaires in 
each hand, and sitting down at his 
work-table, “ I suppose the next thing 
is furniture.” 

“ We want everything,” declared 



THAT IS QUITE SATISFACTORY TO ME. MR. BETTS,” SAID MR. DELIGHT 



































































































































































































































































































































































§ 


































THE NEW HOUSE IS 

Mr. Delight recklessly. “ We want a 
piano, and a window-seat, and a side- 
board — ” 

“ I have a sideboard that came in 
this morning,” interrupted Mr. Betts, 
rolling it out directly. 

”0 isn’t it sweet?” said Mrs. De- 
light, clasping her hands. “ Dinah and 
I will paper the shelves with that scal- 
loped paper that comes on purpose. 
Think of it, William, full of our wed- 
ding china ! ” 

“ Betsey 1 O Betsey 1” called Tom, 
plunging up the stairs. “ See what 
I’ve got.” 

Betsey turned around and examined 
with interest a piece of gilt molding 
about six inches long that Tom held out. 

“ See, lay it on this side, and presto 1 
it’s a sofa 1 You can have it.” 


16 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


“O Tom, how kind of you! I’ll 
make a huckaback pillow for it,— pink 
and green. It will be too dear for 
anything ! ” 

“ Hum,” thought Tom on his way 
down stairs. “ I didn’t think she’d be 
so awfully pleased with a little thing 
like that. Maybe I could saw her 
out a little chair on my jig-saw — I 
wonder?” 

And in a few minutes there was a 
strange, buzzing sound down cellar, 
that kept time to the hum of Madame 
Bettina’s tiny sewing-machine upstairs. 
For it was Madame Bettina that had 
to make the sheets and pillow-cases 
and net curtains, and all the things 
which are hardly in a carpenter’s 
line. 

‘‘How can I make a telephone?” 


THE NEW HOUSE 


17 


puzzled Betsey. And she gazed 
thoughtfully at her box of beads. 

“Aha!” exclaimed Mr. Betts sud- 
denly, taking two large silver beads 
from his box. 

“ Ho-ho ! ” he laughed, rummaging 
excitedly in the closet where he kept 
his smooth pieces of kindling wood. 

“Yes, Mr. Delight,” he remarked 
calmly, “I will personally see to it 
that the telephone is put in the very 
first thing, so you won’t lose an 
important call.” He began to paint 
a small piece of wood a rich, deep 
brown, with water colors. 

“Another small piece of wood for 
a battery box,” murmured Betsey, 
whanging away at an obstinate nail. 
“The two silver beads for bells, a 
two-pointed tack to hold the receiver — 


18 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


a green cord — a roll of black paper 
stuck into a black bead for a re- 
ceiver—. Now, what on earth for a 
speaking tube?” 

Speaking of tubes ! Mr. Betts tri- 
umphantly took the cap from his tube 
of paste, and with one resounding rap 
of his hammer, nailed it securely in 
the exact center of the new telephone ! 

“Hullo, up there!” called a deep 
voice at the foot of the stairs. 

“ Come up, come up ! ” called Bet- 
sey, running to open the door for 
her father. “See the telephone.” 

“ Well, quite a telephone, indeed ! ” 
said Father admiringly. “ Now, what 
can you do with this?” He laid a 
polished wooden stamp-box in her 
hand. 

Betsey thought a moment. “A 


THE NEW HOUSE 


19 


clock. Glue the cover down, paint 
a face, stick on a pendulum — ” 
“And hang it on the wall ! ” fin- 
ished Father. And he smiled over 
his shoulder to see Betsey change so 
suddenly into Mr. Betts, who must 
somehow sell to Mr. Delight a Grand- 
father’s clock, — solid oak, keeping 
perfect time, and extremely reason- 
able in price. 

“ Do you want to live in your new 
house at once, or wait until every- 
thing is done?” asked Mr. Betts. 

“O live there at once, William!” 
pleaded Mrs. Delight. “ I am just 
crazy to hang the curtains ! ” 

“ O. K.,” said Mr. Delight. “ You 
get Dinah to come over to help you, 
and I will superintend Mr. Betts and 
his moving men.” 


20 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


Soon the tiny drawing-room was in 
great confusion. Dinah and her mis- 
tress sat among great piles of net and 
lace, running the dainty curtains on 
their poles, tying them back with 
wide rose-colored ribbons, and getting 
up and down on the step-ladder to 
arrange the folds. Suddenly, as Bet- 
sey swung Mrs. Delight gently from 
the little ladder, a tiny elastic between 
Mrs. Delight’s arms snapped, and 
down fell her round right arm on 
the soft new carpet 1 

“ Massa Willyum ! ” shrieked Di- 
nah. “ Miss Edith done broke her 
arm a-falling off dis yeah step-ladder ! 
Telephone for de doctor, wid de new 
telephone! ” 

Mr. Delight rushed distractedly to 
the telephone. “ Dr. Betson, please 


THE NEW HOUSE 


21 


come immediately l Yes, my wife has 
broken her arm. It's very serious 
indeed ! ” 

“ I will come just as soon as my 
motor can get there,” replied Dr. 
Betson. 

Dinah was wringing her hands and 
crying when Mr. Delight hurried into 
the drawing-room. 

“ Don’t feel so badly, Dinah,” said 
Mrs. Delight bravely. “ Dr. Betson 
is the best surgeon in the world.” 
And as she smiled a little, Dr. Betson 
rang the bell violently. 

“ Well, well ! ” he said heartily, 
kneeling down to examine the break. 
“ Don’t worry, Mrs. Delight, because 
I can fix this arm in a trice! Just 
spread a few blankets on the floor for 
a comfortable bed and I’ll go to work.” 


22 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 

Betsey pulled a piece of new elastic 
(kept for just this purpose) out of 
her work-box, threaded Mrs. Delight’s 
arms on, and tied them tight. And 
then to make her work look quite 
professional, she bandaged the right 
arm beautifully with cheese cloth. 

“Is it possible the arm is set?” 
asked Mrs. Delight as the doctor put 
up his instruments (a ribbon-runner 
and a pair of blunt scissors). 

“All done, Madam,” declared Dr. 
Betson. “ This is a very fortunate 
kind of break. Now that it is prop- 
erly set, you do not even need to be 
careful. I would suggest that you 
take a good rest, however.” 

“Indeed she will!” agreed Mr. 
Delight shaking hands with the gruff 
doctor. He was still quite pale. 



“SHE ALWAYS STOOD MR. DELIGHT UP IN HIS SHIRT-SLEEVES, 
TO SUPERINTEND THINGS IN GENERAL” 


« 



THE NEW HOUSE 


23 


“ Now, as soon as I can move Mrs. 
Delight’s bed up to her room, we 
will all go to bed, for we are very 
much exhausted with moving.” 

Betsey carefully slipped on Mrs. 
Delight’s long, lacy night-dress, and 
tucked her in gently, and soon she 
was asleep. 

And soon Mr. Delight left Dump- 
ling asleep, and tiptoed up to bed, 
and soon he was asleep. As for 
Dinah, she was asleep in two minutes. 
So the tall, shiny clock on the wall 
ticked through the night alone, for 
Betsey crept happily into her own 
white bed, and fell asleep herself, 
for she had worked hardest of all! 


Chapter II 

AT THE SEASHORE 
HAT are you making, Bet- 



vv sey?” asked Tom, one hot 
July day. 

“A cottage,” said Betsey. 

“ Whew ! There’s nothing small 
about youl What do you want of 
a cottage when you’ve got a new 
doll-house?” 

“ Mrs. Delight has to have a summer 
home, hasn’t she?” answered Betsey 
with dignity. “O Tom, dear! Could 
I borrow your train of cars? The 
Delights want to go to the seashore.” 

“You can have it. I don’t want 
it any more.” 


24 


AT THE SEASHORE 


25 


“O thank you, Tom. I don’t sup- 
pose you’d want to lend that little 
suit-case — that Uncle John gave you 
full of candy, would you? ” 

“That,” said Tom, solemnly mak- 
ing a great bow, “you may have, 
too. What do / want of a doll’s 
suit-case?” 

“You’re an old dear,” said Betsey 
affectionately. “Now let me think 
what else I need to make before the 
families can start for the beach.” She 
cut a large window in her pasteboard 
cottage as she spoke. 

“How many families are going?” 
inquired Tom politely. 

“Two,” said Betsey, carefully mark- 
ing her window-sashes. “ Mr. and 
Mrs. Delight, and Dinah and Dump- 
ling, for one family, and Mr. and Mrs. 


26 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


Darling for the other. Try to think, 
Tom, what I ought to make.” 

“Are your families going swim- 
ming?” asked Tom. 

“O yes, indeed, every day.” 

“ Then I suggest that you make 
bathing-suits.” 

“Of course! How stupid of me! 
Here I am, planning too much about 
trains and cottages, and not at all 
about clothes!” 

And Tom went down stairs, just 
as Mr. Betts, the carpenter, finished 
his cottage, and changed into Madame 
Bettina, the French dressmaker. 

“O Madame Bettina!” said Mrs. 
Delight all out of breath. “ We want 
some bathing-suits made. We’re 
going to the seashore ! ” 

“That is ver’ good,” said Betsey, 


AT THE SEASHORE 


27 


with Madame Bettina’s French ac- 
cent (just as Mother’s dressmaker 
talked). “ Will you have Alice-blue 
suits trimmed with white braid, with 
•'harming bath caps to match?” 

“ That sounds very pretty,” agreed 
Mrs. Delight. “ My sister doesn’t 
know yet that she’s going, so hers 
is a great surprise. Make hers blue 
and mine black, so we can tell them 
apart, and Dinah must have one 
too.” 

“ I shall send them tonight, surely,” 
said Madame Bettina, getting to work 
in good earnest, for it is not every 
dressmaker that can make five bath- 
ing-suits in one day. She cut here 
and snipped there, and ran her ma- 
chine at a great rate. 

“ Betsey ! ” called Mother above all 


28 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


the noise. “ Come to the head of the 
stairs a minute.” 

Betsey stopped her noise oDedi- 
ently and opened the door. 

“ Tom and I are going to Boston 
at ten o’clock. Norah will take care 
of you. And you can ask Mary to 
come over to play this afternoon, if 
you want to.” 

“ I don’t need Mary, Mother ! ” 
cried Betsey laughing. “You see 
with Mrs. Delight’s company I have 
my hands full already.” 

“ Very well,” said Mother laughing 
too. “ Now what do you want me 
to bring you? I’m going to take 
your gold thimble in to be straight- 
ened where the chair rocked on it.” 
She held up the tiny blue box. 

“O Mother dear ! If you’ll only 


AT THE SEASHORE 


29 


take the thimble in something else, 
and give me that thimble box, you 
don’t have to bring me one thing.” 

“ What do you want it for ? ” asked 
Mother in a puzzled tone. 

‘‘A camera. It’s just the size. I’ll 
cover it with black oil-cloth and make a 
little, black carrying case just to fit, and 
Mrs. Delight can take it to the beach.” 

“ Here is your camera, then,” 
laughed Mother, tossing it up the 
stairs into Betsey’s two hands. 

“ Good-bye, Mother,” sang Betsey, 
bustling back into the playroom. 
“ Ding-ling ! Hello 1 Give me three- 
five-one, please.” (This in Mr. De- 
light’s pleasant deep voice.) 

“ Hello, Mr. Betts. Can you make 
me a camera to take with me to the 
beach? ” 


30 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


“ I can, sir. I will send it up with 
the suit-case, and bag, and fish-pole.” 
And Mr. Betts hastily got out his 
glue and heavy paper and thin sticks 
of wood, and soon finished a gentle- 
man’s hand-bag, lettered “J. D.” (for 
John Darling), a tiny black camera, 
and a long, slender fish-pole. 

“ There ! ” said Betsey to nobody 
in particular. “ Here is where the 
beach will be.” (Setting up the 
new cottage.) “ Here is the station.” 
(Setting up the train of cars.) “And 
here are all the new things to be 
delivered.” 

She packed them into a tiny express 
cart drawn by a brown horse, took a 
last look at the room to see that 
everything was ready, and went down 
to dinner. 


AT THE SEASHORE 


31 


“ Norah,” she said, settling herself 
at the table all alone in the big dining- 
room, “ I’m going to be very busy all 
the afternoon.” 

“Are ye, me darlint ! ” said Norah 
with a smile. “ And do you want 
anything of me?” 

Betsey hesitated. “No, I guess 
not — unless you could find me a big 
shingle. Do you think you could?” 

“A big shingle! I’m thinking 
there’s a cellar full! I’ll give ye 
two for a kiss!” 

But as it turned out, Betsey gave 
two kisses to kind Norah for one 
shingle, and hurried back to her play- 
room, calling back over her shoulder, 
“ I want the shingle for a wharf ! ” 

“A wharf,” chuckled Norah to her- 
self. “ Bless the dear child ! She has 


32 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


a regular little town up in her room, 
with her houses, and her cars, and 
her seashores ! ” 

Betsey stopped in her mother’s 
room and looked hard at the wash- 
stand. “Yes, I’ll be very careful,” 
she said to nobody in particular, and 
lifted the pitcher out, and poured the 
white pond-lily bowl nearly full of 
water. “ It’s lovely and cold ! ” she 
giggled. “ How Mr. Delight will 
yell ! ” 

Carefully she lifted the basin, and 
slowly she walked to the back hall. 
“ However am I going to open the 
door?” puzzled Betsey. But she 
got no farther, for one of her wrists 
let down suddenly, and splash ! went 
a great shower of water over the floor, 
and began running in all directions. 


AT THE SEASHORE 


33 


“ I should have called Norah,” said 
Betsey. But she did not sit down 
and watch the water creep down- 
stairs. She seized a dry mop, and 
dried the floor very deftly. 

“ I’m glad I didn’t break the bowl,” 
she thought as she squeezed the dry 
mop (which was now quite a wet one) 
out of the window. “ It’s lucky the 
back hall isn’t carpeted.” And she 
started out again. 

This time she reached the playroom 
safely, set the “ ocean ” on the table by 
the beach, and knelt down before the 
big house to help Mrs. Delight ring 
her shiny telephone. 

“ Hello, Prudence. What do you 
say if we go to the seashore ?” 

“Why, you take my breath away! 
John and I haven’t any bathing-suits.” 


34 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


“ But suppose William and I see 
to that ? ” 

“ Well, we haven’t hired a cottage.” 
“ But suppose we see to that, too ? ” 
“ Then we’ll go ! Shall we meet 
you at the station? ” 

“ Meet us at ten, sharp 1 ” 

With these words Betsey took Mrs. 
Delight from the telephone, put on 
her prettiest white suit and her hat 
trimmed with the blue-jay feather that 
she had found in the yard. She tied a 
wide blue ribbon to Dumpling’s collar, 
put on Mr. Delight’s gray derby, and 
packed the suit-case neatly. Then she 
hustled the whole crowd to the station, 
taking three dolls in one hand and two 
dolls and a dog in the other. As the 
little ladies were kissing each other 
delightedly, Betsey gave a shrill whistle 



SOON MR. DELIGHT CAME STRIDING BACK 

















♦ 























































. 

































































































AT THE SEASHORE 


35 


and rushed the big, noisy engine swiftly 
along the track, and brought it slowly 
to a standstill. Then she gave several 
hard puffs (the way an engine does, 
you know). 

“Woof! Woof!” said Dumpling. 

“ O here’s a dog,” said the porter, 
catching hold of Dumpling’s blue 
ribbon. “ No dogs allowed in de 
Pullman, sah.” 

“ Dis yeah dog is ! ” said Dinah, 
forgetting herself. 

“ No, miss ; all dogs hab to ride in 
de baggage car.” 

“ My dear Edith,” said Mr. Delight 
calmly, “ I’ll go and see my friend, 
the President of the Railroad, and see 
what can be done.” 

“ De train will go off and leave you, 
sah ! ” cried the distressed porter. 


36 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


“No it won’t, William!” shouted 
Mr. Darling. “ I’m going to stand 
right here with my bag, directly on the 
track, and the engineer won’t dare to 
run over me.” And Betsey stood Mr. 
Darling up, right under the nose of 
the steaming engine. 

Soon Mr. Delight came striding 
back. “ It’s all right,” he called. 
“ The President’s Special will be 
hitched on directly. Here it comes 
down the track now.” 

Betsey had the biggest passenger 
car behind her all the time. In fact 
it was the only car all the little people 
could get into all at once, and now she 
pushed it down the track at a great 
rate and bumped it into the train with 
a bang quite like a real passenger car. 

“ It is a shame that it will be too 


AT THE SEASHORE 


37 


late to bathe when we get there,” said 
Mrs. Delight, as Betsey arranged them 
all in the tiny green velvet seats. 

“ It won’t,” corrected Mr. Darling. 
“ Eleven o’clock is the fashionable 
hour to bathe. The minute I get there 
I shall put on my bathing-suit. And, 
Dinah, I shall get enough fish for 
dinner off the wharf before I touch 
the water.” 

“ Better not promise, Mr. John. 
What if de fishes don’t bite ? ” 

“ I promise,” said Mr. Darling more 
firmly, “ that I won’t go into the water 
until I get enough fish for dinner.” 

Here Betsey slowed up the train, 
and called out in a conductor’s loud 
voice, “ Beachwood ! Beachwood !” 

“ Here we are,” cried Mr. Delight. 
** What a lovely cottage ! ” 


38 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 

But Betsey couldn’t wait for them 
all to exclaim over the new cottage, 
having four grown-up people to dress 
in new bathing-suits, so she began 
directly with Mr. Delight. She put 
on his cunning blue bath-robe over his 
bathing-suit and tied the tiny cord 
carefully, because Mr. Delight was 
cold-blooded, like Father. Mrs. De- 
light had a round rubber cap (not 
really rubber, though), and Betsey tied 
Mrs. Darling’s hair up in a white silk 
bandana with a funny knot in front, 
like Cousin Margaret’s. As for Mr. 
Darling, he had a scarlet suit, just the 
color of a boiled lobster. And Betsey 
slung the fish-pole over his shoulder, 
and gave the new camera to Mrs. 
Darling. 

“ Remember de fish, Mister John,” 





REMEMBER DE FISH, MR. JOHN,” CALLED DINAH 

























































































































AT THE SEASHORE 39 

called Dinah. “ Nebber tech de 
water twell you catches enough fo’ 
dinner 1 ” 

“ I'll bring you the fish, sure ! ” 
promised Mr. Darling. 

“ Here’s the wharf,” said Betsey, 
putting the big shingle across the 
bowl. “ Mr. Darling can fish while 
the others try the water.” 

“ You know the best way to go in, 
Prudence, I suppose ? ” said Betsey 
for Mrs. Delight, settling herself 
before the table that held the ocean. 

“ Yes, you wet your forehead first, 
like this,” said Mrs. Darling, “ and 
then you just plunge in all over like 
this ! O-o-eee ! ” And Betsey laughed 
and sputtered just as everyone does at 
the seashore, giving a monstrous shout 
for Mr. Delight when he went in. 


40 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


“ Don’t stir up the water so much 
down there ! ” called Mr. Darling 
from the wharf. “ Scared away a big 
cod, then.” 

“ I wonder if I could make Mr. 
Delight swim,” thought Betsey. She 
bent out his tiny arms and lowered 
him into the water and tried to make 
him strike out. But she forgot that 
she had very carelessly left Mrs. 
Darling standing in the water, and 
Mr. Delight was so very awkward 
and made such a huge wave, that the 
water in the small ocean struck her 
full in the face and over she went. 

“ O her hair ! her hair ! ” cried 
Betsey in distress, plunging her hand 
rin after the poor little lady. She 
hastily dried her in a big towel, and 
took off the little silk cap to see what 


AT THE SEASHORE 


41 


damage was done. “ It isn’t so bad,” 
she decided, feeling of the yellow braid. 
“ The silk made very good rubber. 
Now Mr. Darling can go in.” 

And she plunged him in all over. 
The other dolls were greatly surprised. 
“ We didn’t know you had caught a 
fish,” they said. 

“ Go and look in my fish basket,” 
said Mr. Darling. 

And when they looked in the basket 
they found two tiny paper blue-fish 
that Betsey had secretly cut out and 
hidden there. 

“ We must take them to Dinah 
to cook. I am starved,” said Mrs. 
Delight, climbing out. 

Betsey had just about time enough 
to get the family dry and dressed when 
Dinah called them to dinner. “ It 


42 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


will be all right if Mrs. Darling’s hair 
is down to dry,” decided Betsey. 
“ Cousin Margaret has to dry hers.” 
And she set them around the table. 

“ I didn’t know blue-fish grew 
here,” said Mrs. Delight. 

“ Pshaw I Don’t let him fool you, 
honey,” said Dinah scornfully. “ I 
seed him out on de wharf wid de 
fish man when you-all was busy in de 
water.” 

“ He didn’t catch them at all, then,” 
said Mrs. Delight. 

“No,” said Mr. Darling. “But you 
know I said I’d get the fish ; I didn’t 
promise to catch them.” 

And Betsey had to laugh herself to 
see them laugh. And as she laughed 
she heard a familiar voice call, “ Bet- 
sey, dear ! ” 



DON’T STIR UP THE WATER SO MUCH DOWN THERE,” CALLED MR. DARLING 

























































































































































































































































































AT THE SEASHORE 43 

“ Why, mother can’t be home,” she 
cried. 

But she opened the door and it 
surely was Mother who stood on the 
landing with her arms out ready for 
her busy little daughter. 

“ You may come down and look in 
my bag,” she said, kissing Betsey. 

And when the black bag was opened, 
Betsey found two tiny boxes for her. 

“ I know when they’re tiny, they 
are for Mrs. Delight,” she giggled, 
as she unwrapped the tissue papers. 
Inside she found a beautiful little gilt 
cuckoo-clock with a tiny bird who 
really said “ cuckoo ” when you pulled 
a cord, —and two smooth, silver-framed 
mirrors. 

“ Those mirrors,” said Betsey, al- 
most too pleased to speak, “ mean 


44 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


that Mrs. Delight will have to have 
a new bureau.” 

But it really turned out to mean a 
great deal more, — which is another 
story ! 


Chapter III 

MR. DELIGHT’S SURPRISE 
HERE is my happy, sunny, 



▼ V good-tempered, busy little 
daughter Betsey ? ” asked Mother 
playfully, one morning. 

“ She’s ’way inside of me,” said 
Betsey, dolefully. “ So far I can’t 
find her.” 

“What drove her in?” inquired 
Mother, tossing away her duster and 
sitting down on the couch. 

“ I think Mary’s going away to the 
country drove her in,” replied Betsey, 
slowly. “ She’s going tomorrow and 
stay five weeks ! ” 

“Why-e-e!” exclaimed Mother. 


46 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


“If here isn’t a tear! A great, big, 
round, wet tear ! Whatever shall we 
do ? ” 

Betsey laughed a little, and wiped 
her eyes with Mother’s soft handker- 
chief. “ But you see I won’t have 
anyone to play with,” she said, “ and 
I shall be lonesome.” 

“ What about Mary ? ” suggested 
Mother. “ Don’t you think she’ll be 
lonesome too ? Now I think this 
would be a good plan, — the very first 
moment you begin to miss Mary, just 
begin to make something nice to 
send her.” 

“ O I think so, too ! ” cried Betsey. 

“Now I see somebody coming 
back,” declared Mother. “ It’s my 
happy, sunny, good-temp — ” 

But Betsey began kissing Mother 


MR. DELIGHT’S SURPRISE 47 


so hard that it was impossible for her 
to finish. 

About a week after this, Mr. Betts 
sat in his shop making an automobile. 
He had made the biggest part out of 
a candy box, had covered it smoothly 
with black oilcloth, and had fastened 
a fascinating number on the rear,— the 
very number that was on Father’s 
own car. But Mr. Betts was having 
rather a hard time with the head-lights. 
He was almost on the verge of getting 
out of patience with the machine, 
when luckily the mail came. And 
there was a little letter from Mary. 

“ Dear, darling Betsey (it said), 

I miss you dreadfully. I play every 
minute with Mr. and Mrs. Merrill, 
and I have made a lovely summer 
house for them right on the bank of 


48 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


the really, truly brook. So they go 
bathing every day. I wish Edith 
could make Leslie a visit. Wouldn’t 
it be great?” 

Betsey read the letter through twice. 
When she came the second time to 
the sentence, “ I wish Edith could 
make Leslie a visit,” an idea so excit- 
ing and pleasant came to her that she 
laughed and danced a little hornpipe 
around the room. 

“I’ll send her! I’ll put her in a 
box I ” she declared to nobody in 
particular. “ I’ll pack her clothes in 
a box, and put her in the center so she 
won’t break, and then I’ll write what 
every dress is for 1 ” And Betsey 
dashed down-stairs with the letter to 
consult with Mother. 

Mother liked the exciting idea. She 


MR. DELIGHT’S SURPRISE 49 


even stopped rolling out pink sugar 
jumbles to find a large shoe-box for 
Betsey, and some heavy paper and 
cord. And then what fun it was 
selecting costumes to send with Mrs. 
Delight ! For this was really going 
away, not just Make-Believe, although 
Make-Believe does very well, when 
one hasn’t a real friend in the country. 

Betsey first packed Mrs. Delight’s 
satin and chiffon evening dresses, her 
opera cloak, and her outing clothes ; 
her dainty muslins and her frilly night- 
dress and her pink kimono. Then 
she dressed Mrs. Delight herself in her 
green Norfolk suit, settled her in the 
soft bed, and packed over her white 
petticoats by the dozen, a woolen 
blanket for cold nights, sofa pillows, 
and hats. Then she wrote a letter 


SO THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


to Mary saying that Mrs. Delight 
could stay a week, and mailed them 
together. 

Now, to tell the truth, Betsey had 
been thinking all this time of how 
pleased Mary would be, and she 
hadn’t yet thought how lonesome she 
would be, or how extremely lonesome 
poor little Mr. Delight would be! 
And when at last Mr. Betts came back 
to finish his automobile, it began to 
dawn on him how quiet his shop was. 
He laid down the little wheel and 
looked over at poor Mr. Delight lying 
on the dining-room floor. And then 
the dignified carpenter changed sud- 
denly into a very disconsolate little girl. 
Just at this minute, Betsey was very 
sorry she had sent Mrs. Delight away. 

She ran her fingers through her 


MR. DELIGHT’S SURPRISE 51 


yellow curls and began to think. She 
thought how sad and lonesome Father 
had been the year Mother had taken 
Betsey and Tom on the big ship to 
England, and how the house looked 
when they came home again. Not 
that it was untidy, O no ! There was 
the new piazza, and the grand new 
music room, and Betsey’s own room 
done over in soft rose-color and white. 
And another such brilliant idea popped 
into Betsey’s head that she laughed 
aloud. 

Mother heard the laugh down in the 
pantry and smiled, and Norah heard 
it in the kitchen and grinned broadly. 
And Joe, the gardener, heard it out in 
the stables, and laughed too. 

“ I’ll let Mr. Delight get up a sur- 
prise! I can make Mrs. Delight her 


52 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


new bureau with my new mirror, and 
he can order two new bedrooms and 
a bathroom, if the old bookcase is 
anywhere near the right size!” 

Here Betsey jumped up and ran for 
the old bookcase as fast as she could 
go. It was a funny bookcase. Father 
had “knocked it together” once, in a 
great hurry. The two shelves did not 
reach the back of the bookcase at all, 
which left a space for the books to fall 
backward in the most bothersome way. 
But it was lucky for Betsey that Father 
had left this space, or there would have 
been no doors between Mr. Delight’s 
new bedrooms. Betsey laid the book- 
case on its side and measured it. 

“ Did you ever ! ” she cried. It meas- 
ured exactly the same as the doll-house. 

“ So you wish to surprise your wife ?” 


MR. DELIGHT’S SURPRISE 53 


said Mr. Betts, cheerfully rubbing his 
hands as if nothing had happened. 
He set Mr. Delight comfortably in a 
little chair on the table. 

“I do,” replied Mr. Delight. “ We 
would like to have company, and really" 
need a guest room.” 

“The first thing, then,” proceeded 
Mr. Betts, “ is to select wall-paper 
and clap it on.” 

“And for clapping it on,” said Bet- 
sey, giggling, “I will need paste.” 
She skipped down-stairs to see what 
Mother would think about making 
paste on baking day. And she had 
a feeling besides that the pink sugar 
jumbles might be done. 

The jumbles were done, but Mother 
was nowhere to be seen. “A caller,” 
said Norah. 


54 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


Now, if Norah hadn’t been cross, 
she would have said, “A caller, me 
darlint,” and Betsey knew it. She 
took a delicate bite out of a jum- 
ble and began cautiously, “ Good deal 
of cooking going on, isn’t there, 
Norah?” 

“A big sight of it,” agreed Norah. 
“ But it’s me that is equal to it.” 

“Norah,” said Betsey suddenly, 
“ do you happen to know how paper- 
hangers make their paste?” 

“Flour,” said Norah, “stirred in 
cold water ; then hot water till it’s just 
right. It’s many the time I’ve made 
it for me brother Terence.” 

“I’m thinking,” said Betsey 
thoughtfully, “ of papering a new 
room.” 

Norah stopped wiping a milk bottle, 


MR. DELIGHT’S SURPRISE 55 


put her hands on her hips, and laughed 
heartily. 

“ You’re the cute darlint ! Will I be 
after making ye some paste ? Yes, and 
I will, if the pies never get made!” 
And kind Norah sifted the flour and 
stirred and stirred, until she could 
hand Betsey a bright tin pail full of 
hot paste as smooth as cream. And 
when she saw the smile on Betsey’s 
face, she was thanked enough. 

Mr. Betts walked into his shop with 
his pail, and put on a long-sleeved 
blue apron. He selected a long paint- 
brush, and a can of white paint. 

“While my paste cools,” he said, 
“ I will begin the marble floor in the 
bathroom.” 

“A marble floor!” exclaimed Mr. 
Delight. “ How extremely rich ! ” 


56 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


“Betsey, Betsey! What on earth 
do I smell?” called Tom. 

“You smell Mr. Delight’s marble 
floor,” replied Betsey. 

“ Hum,” said Tom, gazing at 
the tiny room fast growing white. 
“ Which will you have, right or 
left?” 

“O I love to guess,” cried Betsey. 
“Right!” 

“ Better guess right and left,” said 
Tom, holding out both hands. In 
one was a white china mustard-boat, 
and in the other, a half a hollow rub- 
ber ball. “ I found them out in the 
rubbish box, and it struck me that 
the mustard-boat would make a good 
bathtub,” said Tom. 

“And the ball will make a set- 
bowl ! ” cried Betsey. 


MR. DELIGHT’S SURPRISE 57 


“ Good,” said Tom admiringly. “ I 
never should have thought of a set- 
bowl. Paint the inside white and set 
it in a square of cardboard.” 

“And I’ll paint the pipe that holds 
it up with silver,” said Betsey, “and 
hang one of my new mirrors over it 1 ” 
The next day when Betsey was hap- 
pily doing all these things, the mail 
came. Such a fat letter as Mary sent ! 
One sheet was from Mrs. Delight to 
her busy little husband, only she didn’t 
know he was busy, and thought he 
must be nearly dead from lonesome- 
ness. And she said at the end of her 
tiny letter: “I am so afraid that you 
are lonesome, I have almost decided 
to come right home.” 

Betsey instantly rushed for her doll’s 
paper and envelopes with Mr. Delight’s 


58 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


tiny monogram on them, and wrote as 
fast as she could, in Mr. Delight’s bold 
hand-writing, 

“ My dearest Edith, 

I am not the least bit lonely, and 
should feel very badly indeed if you 
were to cut your visit short. So don’t 
come until the week is up. 

Your devoted husband, 
William.” 

Then she read Mary’s letter. “ The 
dolls are just loads of fun,” Mary 
wrote. “ I have made them a little 
sleeping-tent beside ours, and they 
sleep out doors with me, and you 
were such an old dear to send Mrs. 
Delight. Hasn’t she the loveliest 
clothes?” 

And just at this moment Betsey was 


MR. DELIGHT’S SURPRISE 59 


very glad indeed that she had sent 
Mrs. Delight away. But the letter 
reminded her that Mrs. Delight would 
be away only three days longer, so she 
fell to work again. 

Such a patient little worker was 
Betsey! She measured the pretty 
wall-paper carefully, and pressed out 
every bubble of paste with a soft cloth, 
so that her walls were very workman- 
like indeed. She always stood Mr. 
Delight up in his shirt-sleeves in the 
room she was at work in, to superin- 
tend things in general. 

Out of a sweet-smelling box that 
had once held three cakes of soap, 
Betsey made Mrs. Delight’s green 
ruffled bed. Then she drew chick- 
ens with real ink on the pillow-sham 
of the guest-room bed, and printed 


60 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


BATH-MAT in bright red, in the 
center of the dear little rug, to be laid 
beside the new tub. 

One morning when Betsey was 
making up the tiny new beds with the 
fresh new sheets and embroidered 
blankets, Tom came up two stairs at 
a time with a large shoe-box. “ Mrs. 
Delight arrived on this train!” 'he 
cried. 

“O don’t undo her yet!” pleaded 
Betsey in great distress. “ The house 
isn’t ready for her to see yet.” 

So Tom good-naturedly left the box 
untouched. 

Anxious as Betsey was to see her 
dearest doll again, she kept steadily 
at her delightful work arranging fur- 
niture, until everything was in readi- 
ness. Then she stood Dinah up in 


MR. DELIGHT’S SURPRISE 61 


the dining-room with a tiny pitcher 
of lemonade, settled Mr. Delight and 
Dumpling in the new touring-car, and 
whizzed them away to the station. 

Then she unpacked the shoe-box. 
“How surprised she will be,” sang 
Betsey, as she burrowed for Mrs. 
Delight. “Oh, oh! What beautiful 
new clothes ! And Mary made them I ” 
She held up one shimmering dress after 
another,— one trimmed with tiny beads, 
and one with embroidery. “Now Mr. 
Delight can be surprised too ! ” 

And at last she came to the pretty 
little lady herself. Betsey set her hat 
straight and stepped her off the train. 

“Woof! Woof!” said Dumpling. 

“ How glad I am,” cried Betsey in 
Mr. Delight’s deep bass voice. 

“O see the new car!” said Mrs. 


62 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 

Delight’s silvery voice. And Betsey 
laughed as she lifted the little china 
dog in beside his mistress. 

“How cute they look!” she 
cried, clapping her hands. Then 
she whizzed them as fast as she 
could to the big green house. 

“You can go down at once to your 
room, my dear,” said Mr. Delight. 

“You mean up ,” said Mrs. Delight. 

“No, he mean down, honey,” said 
Dinah with a welcoming grin. 

So Mrs. Delight went down-stairs 
in great astonishment to find the 
bright, new rooms. She looked first 
at her beautiful bed, and then at the 
bathroom and the guest chamber. 

“O William, this is why you didn’t 
want me to come home. You are the 
very kindest man in all the world ! ” 



SO MRS. DELIGHT WENT DOWN IN GREAT ASTONISHMENT TO FIND 

THE BRIGHT NEW ROOMS” 






MR. DELIGHT’S SURPRISE 63 


And the funniest thing ! Although 
Betsey had done every bit of the work, 
and Mr. Delight hadn’t done a single 
thing, she was not the least bit jealous 
when she went down-stairs to dinner ! 


Chapter IV 
THE PICNIC 
HAT on earth is Betsey doing 



▼ V with that pail? ” asked Cousin 
Margaret in amazement. She and 
Mother sat one afternoon in the 
cool sewing-room as Betsey passed 
the door lugging a pail of soapsuds. 

“ Betsey, what are you up to? Clean- 
ing house?” she called, laughing. 

“Just so,” replied Betsey, coming 
back slowly and setting her steaming 
pail on the floor. ‘‘You see, Mrs. 
Delight’s house needs a thorough 
cleaning all over before company 
comes, so today Dinah and Mrs. 
Delight clean house.” 


64 


THE PICNIC 


65 


“You funny child!” said Cousin 
Margaret, letting her dainty work fall 
to the table. “ Do you mean to say 
you really scrub?” 

“ Scrub ! ” echoed Betsey, lifting 
her pail again. “Say, come on up 
with me and see!” 

Cousin Margaret was very young 
and very pretty, and she really didn’t 
have the slightest idea how one cleaned 
a doll-house. So with a little wink at 
Mother, she followed Betsey up the 
stairs. 

When she saw Betsey’s collection 
of house-cleaning materials, she sank 
weakly into a big chair and stared. 
There was a stiff brush, and a soft 
brush, and a cake of sapolio ,' a 
whole basketful of soft cloths, and 
a chamois skin. 


66 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


“What’s the chamois skin for?’’ 
she asked. 

“ To clean the mirrors,” said 
Betsey. 

“Well, I do declare!” was all 
Cousin Margaret could say. But 
pretty soon she leaned forward and 
began to watch Betsey with a little 
secret admiration. Mrs. Delight was 
already dressed in one of her fresh 
morning dresses, white apron and 
ruffled sweeping cap, and she and 
Dinah were supposed to be moving all 
the furniture into the drawing-room. 
Mr. Delight sat stiffly on the win- 
dow-seat and watched. 

“You see, Cousin Margaret,” ex- 
plained Betsey, “ Mrs. Delight’s twin 
sister and her husband are coming to 
visit. (Those are Anne’s old dolls she 


THE PICNIC 


67 


lets me take.) And Mr. Delight is 
going to the post-office to mail the 
invitation. I’ll tell you,— I’ll put him 
in the car with Dumpling and make 
Mrs. Delight and Dinah wave to 
him, and then you can attend to 
him while I clean house. Water’s 
getting cold!” 

“ How stylish and proper he do 
look,— a-driving dat kerridge ! ” sud- 
denly observed Betsey in Dinah’s 
pleasant voice. 

“ Why, Betsey, how you scared me ! 
I thought you really were another 
person ! ” exclaimed Cousin Margaret, 
looking up from the post-office. But 
when she once looked up from the 
post-office she couldn’t look back 
again, for there was Betsey on her 
knees, going at the little house with 


68 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


the largest scrubbing-brush as if the 
dirt were inches thick. 

“ You’ll take the paint off ! ” 
screamed Cousin Margaret. 

“ Take the paint off 1 ” echoed 
Betsey. “ Just see here.” She doubled 
her cloth over a skewer and be- 
gan digging out the corners of the 
little dining-room windows. And 
when the room was clean enough, she 
wiped the smooth floor vigorously 
back and forth with a clean cloth. 

“ Now see the difference,” she 
announced, looking first at the clean 
dining-room and then at the drawing- 
room. 

“Why, the other is actually gray, 
isn’t it ? ” said Cousin Margaret, 
peering in at the little room. “ Don’t 
you want to let me do this one?” 



HE SURE DO LOOK MIGHTY STYLISH A-DRIVING DAT KERRIDGE,” SAID DINAH 







































































































































































































































































































































































THE PICNIC 


69 


“O thank you!” cried Betsey, 
seizing the carpets to shake out of 
the window. So Cousin Margaret 
promptly began her first house-clean- 
ing. As she polished off the thresh- 
old, she heard a gentle thud, thud, 
over by the desk, so she took her head 
out of the house to see what was going 
on. There sat Betsey beating pillows 
with two of the tiniest little carpet- 
beaters you ever saw. They were made 
of twisted wires, exactly like big ones, 
only so small that they made you 
laugh to look at them. Cousin Mar- 
garet laughed. But she had to own 
up that the rooms looked very fresh 
and sweet, as they put back the clean 
carpets and dusted furniture. 

“ What does your Mrs. Delight do 
to entertain her guests?” she asked. 


70 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


“ I thought they could have a 
picnic,” said Betsey, pausing a mo- 
ment to think. “ I have a pattern for 
a dandy lunch-basket . 1 And Tom has 
the dearest little canoe! ” 

“ Has he, indeed?” observed Tom’s 
voice around the corner. 

“ You’ll lend it, won’t you ? ” 
pleaded Betsey. 

“ It makes a good deal of difference 
what it’s wanted for,” replied Tom, 
with his hands in his pockets. 

“Well, the Delights are going to 
have a picnic, and they go to a cer- 
tain grove, like Brighton’s Lake, yop 
know, where they have canoes to 
rent. And I have everything but the 
canoe, Tom.” 

“Everything?” questioned Tom. 
“Have you a Thermos bottle?” 


THE PICNIC 


71 


“Hum!” said Cousin Margaret 
loudly. “ I’ll make the Thermos bot- 
tles for you,— one quart size, and one 
pint. I’d love to!” 

“How are you going to make 
them, Cousin Margaret?” asked Tom 
respectfully. 

“ If you children will 'come down 
street with me, and show me the 
nearest gum machine,— the kind where 
the gum is done up in silver paper, 
you know,— I’ll let you watch me!” 
bargained Cousin Margaret, deter- 
mined now to make a perfectly won- 
derful article. 

“What does she want gum for?” 
giggled Betsey, scurrying down-stairs 
behind Tom. 

“She wants the silver paper,” said 
Tom wisely. 


72 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


And that was exactly what she did 
want at the time, but when the happy 
trio stood before the red machine in 
the grocery store, and the thin stick of 
gum came shooting out into Cousin 
Margaret’s hands, she had another idea. 

“Come, we’ll buy three sticks, and 
I’ll hire you to chew one apiece,” she 
said. “ Peel off the silver paper with- 
out tearing it.” 

“ I don’t like gum after the win- 
tergreen flavor goes,” said Betsey, 
chewing hard. 

“You can’t have it anyway,” said 
Cousin Margaret severely. “ Didn’t 
I buy it for my quart bottle?” 

“You’re going to mold it!” cried 
Betsey, skipping along the sidewalk. 
“ Aren’t you clever 1 ” 

Mother smiled when she saw them 


THE PICNIC 


73 


go up-stairs again, and she went quietly 
out to the pantry without saying a 
word. 

Cousin Margaret sat down at Mr. 
Betts’ work-table with a mighty puff. 
She smoothed away on the bright tin- 
foil until it shone like solid silver. 
Then she molded her soft chewing- 
gum carefully into a tiny pint bottle. 
She clipped off a long strip of tin- 
foil and wound it around the bottle, 
pinched the top a little, and glued on 
a paper label. 

“Keeps cold twenty-four hours!” 
she cried, holding it out for inspection. 

“ Good ! ” shouted Tom and Betsey. 

“ Hand over your gum, children,” 
said Cousin Margaret. “ It takes two 
for a quart. You can be making the 
lunch-basket.” 


74 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


“ Weren’t you going to play ten- 
nis this afternoon?” asked Betsey 
thoughtfully. “ Mother said I mustn’t 
bother you.” 

“ I was, but I’m not ,” replied 
Cousin Margaret recklessly. “I’d 
rather play picnic, and sail your canoe 
in the bathtub.” 

Tom slipped quietly down-stairs at 
mention of the bathtub, and neither 
the little girl nor the big girl noticed. 

“ O William, here come Prudence 
and John I ” cried Cousin Margaret in 
Mrs. Delight’s silvery voice, rushing 
Mrs. Delight to the front door. 

“Here we are!” shouted Betsey 
for Mr. Darling. “ It’s so much fun 
to have somebody else manage all 
these dolls, Cousin Margaret!” 

“ Suppose you manage the De- 


THE PICNIC 


75 


lights,” suggested Cousin Margaret 
in an undertone, ‘‘and let me have 
the company.” 

“ I’d rather,” said Betsey, joy- 
fully, taking charge at once of Mr. 
Delight, who was not helping his 
guests properly. 

“ Keep your dog off ! ” said Cousin 
Margaret, making Mr. Darling rush 
at Dumpling in the most ridiculous 
manner. 

“ Are you tired, Prudence ? ” asked 
Mrs. Delight. 

“ Tired ? No ! ” said Mrs. Darling. 

Betsey made Mr. and Mrs. Delight 
look at each other. 

“ Why, what’s up ? ” questioned 
Mr. Darling, sitting down on the 
tiny piano stool. 

“ We thought,” began Betsey in 


76 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


Mrs. Delight’s most charming man- 
ner, “ that we might go on a picnic.” 

“ Hoo-ray ! ” cried Cousin Mar- 
garet, making Mr. Darling turn a 
splendid handspring across the little 
parlor. 

“Why, John, I am ashamed of 
you,” said Betsey, sternly, for his wife, 
and trying in vain to stop laughing. 

“ I brought my camera that has 
legs,” said Mr. Darling, “ and I’ll take 
your pictures.” 

“We haven’t. really a camera with 
legs, have we?” whispered Betsey. 

“ Down in my trunk,” said Cousin 
Margaret. “ You begin to dress them 
in picnic clothes, and I’ll get it. I 
meant to save it until I went home, 
but I know you’d rather have it now.” 
She struggled to her feet, and left 



TAKE UP A SANDWICH AND LOOK PLEASANT,” SAID MR. DARLING 




























































































































































































































THE PICNIC 


77 


Betsey tying a soft blue ribbon around 
Mrs. Delight’s fluffy head. The 
camera proved to be a fascinating tin 
one, with a front part that pulled in 
and out beautifully. 

“ Let’s hurry. I’m hungry already! ” 
said Cousin Margaret, piling every- 
thing into the little touring-car,— 
basket, dog, Dinah, and shawls, helter- 
skelter. The car whizzed around the 
room a few times, and stopped with a 
jolt at the picnic grounds. 

“ Spread the shawl on the ground 
about here,” directed Mrs. Delight, 
pointing with the tip of her slipper to 
a little clearing. “ Strew the cushions 
around, and — ” 

“ Open up the lunch I ” interrupted 
Mr. Darling, setting up his camera. 
“ I don’t want to take my picture 


78 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


until the eating begins, and the sun 
is about right now.” 

“ His old picture is just an excuse 
to eat,” remarked Mrs. Darling. 

“ Better give de ole dog sump’in to 
eat. Den he won’t be boddering so 
much,” said Dinah. 

“Well, let me see,— he’s had twelve 
cookies,” reflected Mrs. Delight. 
“ Give him three more and let him go 
over on that little hill to eat them.” 

“Can’t he hab apple dumpling?” 
asked Dinah anxiously. 

“ Give Dumpling Delight a delight- 
ful dumpling,” sang Mr. Darling. 
“ Now, all ready ! Take up a sand- 
wich, Mrs. D., and look pleasant!” 

“ Now let’s take them down to the 
lake,” suggested Betsey, poking the 
last crumb under Dumpling’s muzzle. 


THE PICNIC 


79 


When they reached the big, white- 
tiled bathroom, they found the bathtub 
filled with water, a wharf across it, 
and a beautiful, dark green sailboat 
floating gracefully up and down with 
the waves. And the waves were so 
very lively that it seemed as if someone 
must be quite near. Betsey glanced 
behind the door. 

“ O here’s the Mr. Wind that made 
the waves,” she said gaily, pulling 
Tom down to the lake. 

“ Will somebody kindly notice 
the boat-house?” said Tom, kneeling 
down good-naturedly. 

There was a plank across the tub, 
wide enough to drive the little motor- 
car along, and at the further end stood 
a tiny cardboard ticket-window. Be- 
hind the little bars, made of tooth- 


80 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


picks, stood a paper ticket-man in a 
blue cap. And overhead was printed : 

“CANOES $1.00 AN HOUR 
SAILBOATS $5.00 AN HOUR ” 

“Isn’t that grand ? ” cried Cousin 
Margaret. “/Fe can afford the green 
sailboat as long as the Delights are 
millionaires.” 

Tom grinned, and watched the big 
girl and the little girl seat the happy 
dolls safely in the big boat. And 
when it was finally untied and sailed 
slowly off down the lake, it looked 
exactly like a real boat party of sober 
grown-up people. 

“ It actually made me sort of hun- 
gry,” said Cousin Margaret at last, 
“ to see them eat at the picnic. Let’s 
go down and get a gingersnap.” 


THE PICNIC 


81 


Tom grinned again. “ Mother said 
when you were through playing, to 
come to her up-stairs piazza.” 

With one accord the two girls care- 
fully placed the picnic party safely on 
the wharf and skipped for the piazza. 
There sat Mother, in her prettiest 
company dress of soft white crepe, 
smiling at nobody in particular, but 
looking at the green wicker tea-table. 

“ Wow 1 ” cried Tom. “ If Dump- 
ling were here, he’d say * Woof 1 ’ ” 

On the tea-table were pink plates of 
thin sandwiches, and a huge glass 
pitcher of strawberry-ade with real 
strawberries floating in it. 

“ I wish you would pour, Margaret,” 
said Mother, smiling. 

So Cousin Margaret, with a sly wink 
at Betsey, took her place very sedately 


82 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


and poured the frosty glasses full, 
and passed the sandwiches. And she 
did it so very well, and with such a 
grown-up air, that Betsey wondered 
how in the world Cousin Margaret 
could be a little girl so easily. 


Chapter V 

THE CHRISTMAS TREE 

B ETSEY was sitting on the slippery 
couch looking quite serious. She 
was not Mr. Betts today, nor even Dr. 
Betson. She was just a little girl with 
a sore throat, watching the big, real 
Dr. Lawrence as he rummaged around 
in his black bag. He put up his 
uncomfortable glass spoon that he 
pressed down one’s tongue with, and 
fished out an oblong pasteboard box. 
“ Oh ! ” said Betsey. 

Dr. Lawrence looked up quickly. 
“Why do you say ‘Oh!’ Sister?” 
he asked. 

Betsey’s eyes were fastened on the 
83 


84 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


little box. “ It’s just the shape of a 
Victrola,” she said. 

“ Hmmmm ! ” buzzed the big doc- 
tor, taking the cover off and dropping 
in some tiny pink tablets and some 
large white ones. “ If you will take a 
white pill every hour, and gargle a 
pink one (dissolved in water, of 
course) every half hour, you shall 
have the box! And — hullo! Here’s 
a bit of wire just about right for a 
crank ! Now, Mr. Tom, we’ll do up 
your burned thumb.” 

Tom had been experimenting a little 
too much with Norah’s teakettle and 
the steam had made quite a big blister. 
Dr. Lawrence unrolled a sheet of pure 
white absorbent cotton. 

“ Oh ! ” said Betsey. 

“ Now, deary me ! ” cried Dr. 


THE CHRISTMAS TREE 85 

Lawrence, pretending to De quite put 
out. “ I suppose the child wants my 
cotton, too. Mr. Avery, make Betsey 
stop saying ‘ Oh ! ’ I won’t have a 
thing left to give the little girl down 
the road, if this child takes all my 
pills, and boxes, and wire,— and now 
my cotton ! ” 

Betsey slipped off the couch and 
danced around happily. She loved to 
hear Dr. Lawrence joke. “ It makes 
such perfectly beautiful snow,” she 
said. ‘‘And just imagine my little 
automobile plowing along in it, 
making wheel-ruts just like yours.” 

“ Well, I suppose you’ll have to 
have it,” said Dr. Lawrence, resign- 
edly. “ I’ll charge your father for it, 
though,— see if I don’t. And poor 
Tom what will he do?” 


86 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


“ O you can have enough for his 
thumb,” said Betsey. 

“ Hmmmm ! ” buzzed on the doc- 
tor, winding away. “ Down the road 
is a little girl nine years old. She has 
three dolls, and they’re about as long 
as Total's thumb.” 

“Tom Thumb!” interrupted Betsey. 

“ Yes’m,” laughed Dr. Lawrence. 
“ Well, this little girl Molly has a 
lame knee, — a very lame knee, and I 
had to send her to bed for a month.” 

“ A month ! ” echoed Betsey. 

“ Does it seem long to you ? ” asked 
Dr. Lawrence thoughtfully. “ That’s 
just how it seems to her.” 

“ Does Molly play with her dolls ? ” 
asked Betsey. 

“ Yes, she sews for them, but they 
each need a party dress.” 


THE CHRISTMAS TREE 


87 


“Can’t she make party dresses?” 

“ O yes, she can , if she has the 
proper materials. Now, you see a 
party dress requires some thin sort of 
fuzzy cloth — ” 

“ You don’t mean fuzzy, Dr. Law- 
rence,” interrupted Betsey, smiling. 
“ You mean soft and drapey.” 

“ That’s it. I see you know what a 
party dress is made of. And perhaps 
some ribbons and a little piece of lace. 
How about that ? ” 

Betsey crossed the room, took one 
of the doctor’s big hands in both hers 
and gave it a hard squeeze. “ I think 
you’re a perfectly lovely doctor, and 
I saw just what you were driving at 
all the time. And don’t you dare to 
go before I come back.” 

And she went directly to the play- 


88 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


room, opened Madame Bettina’s box 
of cloth, and looked over its contents. 
She finally selected a dainty rosebud 
muslin with a pink border, a thin 
dimity covered with wreaths of tiny 
forget-me-nots, and a pretty yellow 
voile. She pulled out a length of 
baby ribbon to match each dress, and 
a handful of soft lace, and folded the 
whole carefully in white tissue-paper. 
Then she went down-stairs with such 
a sudden thought in her curly head 
that she sang a little tune all the way. 

She burst into the library with 
her little parcel to find Dr. Lawrence 
talking and laughing with Father, and 
putting on his big fur coat. 

“What’s up?” he asked, catching 
sight of Betsey’s shining face. 

“ Could you wait a minute?” 


THE CHRISTMAS TREE 


89 


begged Betsey. “ You see, Mr. and 
Mrs. Delight are going to have a 
Christmas tree and invite some poor 
little children. And I want to write 
an invitation to Molly’s three dolls ! 
She could send the dolls over by you 
when you come this afternoon, and 
perhaps I can take them back myself 
tomorrow.” 

‘‘Good enough I ” said the doctor 
good-naturedly, sliding out of his coat 
again. “ Molly will be so glad she 
won’t know what to do. I’ll wait.” 

Betsey climbed in haste into the 
big desk chair and wrote carefully on 
her blue notepaper : 


■JjHTIv < v £" "fcUnJLC p'C^tX. 


90 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


And on the little blue envelope she 
wrote, “ For Molly’s three dolls.” 

“ I will deliver it directly,” said 
Dr. Lawrence, “and this afternoon I 
will bring the company.” And he 
blew a kiss to Betsey for thanks. 

The moment the doctor had gone, 
Mr. Betts went to his shop and began 
on his Victrola, for this was to be Mr. 
Delight’s present to his wife. Mr. 
Betts cut the slender legs with a sharp 
penknife and bent out the tiny doors. 
Then he pasted shiny dark-red papei 
all over the outside and pushed in 
the crank. 

“ It almost looks as if it would 
play,” declared Betsey. Then she 
took a white pill and gargled a pink 
one, for she always kept her promise. 
Then all was ready. 







HE LEFT A PRINT OF EACH TINY FOOTSTEI 































































THE CHRISTMAS TREE 


91 


“ O William ! ” said Mrs. Delight, 
sitting down on the gilt sofa beside 
her husband, “ don’t you think we could 
get the Christmas tree ourselves? ” 

“ Indeed we could I Put on your 
long coat and furs, and I will bring 
the car around, and we will find one.” 
Betsey spread out the soft white snow 
for the forest, and dressed Mr. Delight 
in his gray fox coat with its curly 
black collar. Then she put on Mrs. 
Delight’s long brown coat and fas- 
tened up her lovely ermine furs. 
“The little darling!” she said, kiss- 
ing her, and settling both the little 
dolls in the automobile. 

The car did make a fascinating rut 
in the snow, and when Betsey walked 
Mr. Delight over to the hemlock trees 
he left a print of each tiny footstep. 


92 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


Whang I Whang ! resounded his 
tiny axe. Finally the tree toppled over 
with a delightful thud,— it was only 
the very tip of Betsey’s real tree which 
stood down-stairs ready for lighting. 

“ O the sweet little tree ! ” cried 
Betsey, seizing it, and, I am sorry to 
say, leaving the little couple stranded 
in the forest. 

“ I’ll set it in one of my wooden 
circles that seam-binding comes on, 
and cover it with green crepe paper.” 

First she cleared all the furniture 
out of the little drawing-room and set 
up the tree. Then she began to wind 
her shining tinsel and paper chains 
around it, and hung on her dazzling, 
colored glass balls, blue and red, and 
green and gold. And then she hung 
presents by the dozen on it. A tiny 


THE CHRISTMAS TREE 93 

rocking-horse and a sled, she had to 
place at the foot of the tree. 

“ You poor things ! ” she exclaimed 
at last, catching sight of Mr. Delight 
lying on his back in the snow. “ You 
must come and get dressed in time for 
your own party.” 

“ I think, William,” began Mrs. 
Delight enthusiastically, “that I "will 
wear my blue accordion - p 1 a i t e d 
crepe-de-chine.” 

“ And I will wear my dress-suit,” 
said Mr. Delight, as Betsey slipped 
his tiny cuffs up his sleeves. 

“You can stand here,” said Betsey, 
setting up the host and hostess by the 
little Victrola, “ and then you will be 
all ready when the children arrive.” 

And she went down to get ready 
herself. 


94 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


“ Don’t you think it would be nice, 
Betsey,” said Mother, as she buttoned 
Betsey’s blue cashmere dress, “ if you 
should make a few clothes for Molly’s 
children ? Just some odd things like 
a kimono or a sweater?” 

“ I’m going to,” said Betsey hap- 
pily, nodding her curly head. “ I 
have an old gray golf-glove that I can 
make a sweater of, — the wrist for the 
sweater part, and two fingers for the 
sleeves.” 

“ That’s my kind daughter,” said 
Mother, approvingly. “ Now run 
down and let the doctor in.” 

“ Here are those three children 1” 
cried Dr. Lawrence, holding out a 
square box. “ Please hurry and take 
them ! Bless me ! I didn’t take a min- 
ute’s cpmfort for fear I should smash 


THE CHRISTMAS TREE 95 


them to bits ! Can I come to the 
party? How’s the throat?” 

Betsey laughed at his list of 
questions and opened her mouth 
obediently. 

“ Fine ! Fine ! ” said the doctor, 
peering at the throat over his specta- 
cles. “ Christmas day will find you 
as well as ever. Now, for that, can’t 
I come to the party?” 

“ If you’d like to,” said Betsey, her 
eyes dancing, for she knew that Dr. 
Lawrence would make the best play- 
mate a little girl ever had. And she 
led the way with Molly’s dolls, all 
dressed in the new party dresses, 
made since morning by the delighted 
Molly, — every stitch by hand. 

“ Well, what a fine man your Mr. 
Delight is ! ” declared Dr. Lawrence, 


96 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


sitting down heavily in the big chair 
before the doll-house. 

“ He is. He doesn’t drink or 
smoke,— just like Father, you know,” 
said Betsey. 

“ I should know that to look at 
him,” said Dr. Lawrence. “ And 
what a pretty little wife he has, to 
be sure! ” 

“ Here come the children, Wil- 
liam,” cried Betsey in Mrs. Delight’s 
sweet voice. 

“ Yes, yes, my dear ! ” boomed Dr. 
Lawrence hastily, taking a tiny Dutch 
boy and a Kewpie doll out of his 
pocket. “ I found two more poor 
children, Edith, and brought them 
along. They live in the alley ! ” 

‘‘O lovely!” said Betsey, admiring 
the Kewpie’s white fur suit. “ Let’s 



“DINNER AM SERVED, SAH,” DRAWLED DR. LAWRENCE, 
POKING DINAH’S HEAD BETWEEN THE PINK PORTIERES 




































































































































THE CHRISTMAS TREE 


97 


show them the tree the very first 
thing.” 

And as the children stood speech- 
less around the tree, Betsey and her 
playmate untied parcel after parcel, 
introduced the Dutch boy to his new 
sled, and laughed to hear Dumpling 
growl at the rocking-horse. 

“ Dinner am served, sah,” drawled 
Dr. Lawrence, poking Dinah’s head 
between the pink portieres. 

“ Get into line, then, children,” 
giggled Betsey, “and march into 
the dining-room.” 

Eight dolls are quite a handful for 
even two people to attend to, but 
Betsey and the doctor finally managed 
to seat the five children around the 
big table and get them all waited upon 
by Dinah and Mrs. Delight. Betsey 


98 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


had made a big paper brick of ice 
cream, made up of tiny cubes of dif- 
ferent colors, exactly like the big one 
that was waiting down-stairs for her 
own Christmas dinner. 

“ You’re a mighty good cook, mis- 
sus ! ” piped up Dr. Lawrence for the 
Kewpie, rolling his eyes at Dinah. 
Just then the nursery clock struck four. 

“ Bless my soul ! I must go ! ” 
shouted Dr. Lawrence, getting up in 
a great rush and nearly upsetting the 
whole house. 

“ O I’m sorry ! ” said Betsey, fol- 
lowing him down-stairs,— “ but I’m 
very much obliged for this short call. 
And tomorrow can I go and take 
Molly’s dolls back to her ?” 

“ I think you may. If you gargle, 
you know.” 


THE CHRISTMAS TREE 99 

The two entered the library where 
Father and Mother were seated. 

“ I never saw a little girl in all my 
life,” said Dr. Lawrence to nobody 
in particular, “ who played so charm- 
ingly with her dolls. Now I have a 
little niece who had the greatest doll- 
house last Christmas that you ever laid 
eyes on. It was just perfect. Little 
marble-topped tables, and desk tele- 
phones, and clothes— I Why, her 
dolls had so many clothes they didn’t 
know what to do. And all made, — 
every one of ’em, — all finished. I 
never used to understand why she 
didn’t play with ’em. And now,” — 
he made a low bow to Betsey,—” now 
I know.” 

” Because she didn’t have anything 
to make? ” questioned Betsey. 


100 THE HOUSE OF DELIGHT 


“ Exactly so,” said Dr. Lawrence. 
“ Elise had nothing to do but dress 
and undress those dolls. She couldn’t 
talk for them because there was noth- 
ing to say. In fact, I’d like to give a 
perfectly bare doll-house to every little 
girl I know. I wouldn’t give her a 
single piece of furniture, or any money 
to buy it with, either.” 

“ Betsey has had just a dollar this 
year for baby-ribbon and tissue-paper 
and white cardboard,” remarked Mrs. 
Avery with a smile. 

** Well, then, for only a dollar,” 
replied Dr. Lawrence, “you are learn- 
ing many good lessons, Mistress 
Betsey, with your sewing and car- 
pentering, and laying rugs. And I 
hope you will play dolls until you’re 
quite grown up ! ” 


THE CHRISTMAS TREE 101 


And now (this being a true story), 
if you would like to know how old 
Betsey was when she finally covered 
up the House of Delight, and packed 
away her dear little dolls, just turn 
this page and hunt for a tiny figure 
hidden in one corner I 













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